Would you buy a salvaged title car due to theft? I really want to buy this car but it has a salvaged title due to theft. I definitely wouldn't buy a car thats salvaged due to an accident but I am double thinking this one.

 

Any details? Price? Condition?

 

90% of the time, no.

If the car was rare, nice and no damage to it then maybe.

 

I bought a ford escort gt when i was a teenager that was theft recovery. It wasn't worth much so i wasn't too worried when i sold it.

When you buy a newer car that is a theft recovery/salvage you have a much harder time selling privately or trading in at a dealer.

A dealer (reputable) won't sell one on their lot and most private party shoppers will not even look at it.

 

Now some people buy them to race, like porsches.

 

If repaired properly there is NO reason not to. Especially if you are looking at salvage title cars. The largest down side to them is resale.

 

If it's a deal and you'll keep the car, drive it, put lots of miles on it and get your money's worth, I'd by a salvage titled car. If you want to sell it in two years, you may have a hard time selling it.

 

You'd also have to pay cash for it, wouldn't you? I've heard it's almost impossible to get financing on a salvaged vehicle.

For some time now, I've been toying with the idea of getting a theft salvaged S2K and just keeping it forever as my weekend ride...

Resale is the only real reason not to do it in my opinion.

 

I wouldn't buy one with a salvage/reconstructed title regardless of what happened.

 

I believe there are some limitations of insurance as well. If your salvage title car gets in an accident it's worth much less than a car with a previously cleam title.

 

All depends on the price.

On the other hand my grandpa bought a vehicle that was stolen and recovered in the 70's, but somewhere in the system the recovered part was ignored. One day after crossing the border at Nogales in the 80's a few border patrol cars came barreling after him and started searching his truck and saying it had been reported stolen. It wasn't till one of the border patrol guards called the previous owner that he was able to leave (which was pretty cool of the guard to do).

A few years later he was told his license was suspended do to something about a stolen vehicle. He spent some time in court straightening it out. Just a couple years ago he was pulled over again and the cop took his license, told him it was suspended, and made him call my dad to drive him home. Again a week later it was all straitened out.

So don't go to Mexico.

 

first we need to know the car and if u plan on keeping it

 

I would do it if I was sure that's the car I wanted and wasn't gonna change my mind after a year of ownership. Also the condition of it. If good, then for sure I would buy it.

 

That really wouldnt have any bearing on ins (as long as the car is deemed safe to drive). Your coverage to cover the vehicle pretty much only covers the value of the car any way so whether it was worth 5k or 15k thats all it would be covered for. Just like if you had 300k miles on it as opposed to 30k miles (clean title)

 

Care to elaborate why?

 

A salvage or rebuilt declared vehicle usually suffers as far as resale is concerned, but if you intend to drive the car and enjoy it for many years then it shouldn't be a problem. It may even be advantageous, allowing you to obtain a vehicle you wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

If a vehicle is repaired correctly, then there should be no issues whatsoever. I rebuilt a motorcycle after being declared salvage, and the shop that inspected the bike upon completion declared it better than when it left the factory.




Terry

 

buy and drive into the ground...

 

if you got cash, no problem but if not, most if not all insurance, will not finance a salvage title.

repair history....no one really knows what was done or how it was done and if the parts used are really OEM. most 3rd party shops will charge the maximum but use the cheapest parts....even junk yard parts. if you don't know, they won't tell you.

maintenance cost....who knows what could happen down the road, esp. to one that had major body damage. flooded cars are the worst, as electrical problems are the hardest to diagnose.

resale value will take a major major plunge. most buyers will not even consider a salvage car and most dealers will rip your heart out with their trade-in value.


real life experience....back in 2003, i bought a 2000 Honda Civic EX sedan, auto, fully loaded with 16K miles for $8000 cash from a private seller. at that time, that car was worth $16K+ so I was getting a deal. knowing it had a salvage title (front end collision), i took it to a independent mechanic who said everything checks out good (paid $80) and the local Honda dealer who also said all is good (paid $110). bought it and 5 months down the road, the tranny crap out, the engine was burning oil, O2 sensors went bad, and a leak developed around the exhaust manifold. i had to fork out $2k to diagnose the problems and had it fixed. after i had it fixed, more little things here and there would pop out...and finally, i had enough. took me 7 months to sell it bec. no one wanted to buy it. end up selling it for $5K. took the lost but got rid of the headache!

lesson learned....NEVER BUY A SALVAGE CAR!!!

 

Yeah, for a race car, or for a project car I'm gonna keep for a really long time, why not? But for a daily driver, something I'm going to need to insure until I drive it into the ground or depend on, I'd be unsure. As mentioned several times, it's going to be tough to sell a salvage-titled car. The price is low for a reason. How often do you see a a clean title car with no accidents going for a really low price? Not often, because not many people are after them. On the other hand, there are always low priced salvage title cars because it's hard to get rid of them.

 

I've bought and sold salvage cars in the past, just got to check 'em out good before you buy them, I personally never had any issues due to the salvage/rebuilt title other then the deminished value of the vehicle. Just pick up an 06 TL two weeks ago at an auction with some light damage, with all repairs and parts I'll be about 7K into it, yeah it'll have a rebuilt title, so what? as long as it's properly repaired (by me, and i don't half ass when i work on cars) it will be just fine, i'll drive it for few year and then sell it for 7K, now that's not a bad deal if you ask me